The Mellow Rose | A vintage swing dress

Yellow has long been one of my favorite colors, for its warmth and cheerfulness and general ability to brighten any day, so when I saw that one of my friends was selling this glorious yellow rose print swing dress, I had to have it. Yellow roses symbolize optimism, friendship, and joy, which makes this dress extra special to me. Though today’s post was a bit tricky to begin with, wearing this dress brightened the whole day and made the extra work of taking these photos first thing (yes, today!) a bit more fun.

I had an entirely different post planned for this morning. A few weeks ago I took photos wearing the Modcloth Tiger Lilies skirt that I’ve been wanting for ages, but when I finally opened up the photos — which I had already edited with a quick filter over all of them at once — I realized that all but four of my photos were out of focus. And not just soft focus in the way that only a photographer might notice they weren’t sharp. They were badly out of focus. In my eagerness to shoot, I hadn’t realized that my camera’s focus point was set on an arbor of leaves beside me, and not at all on where I stood just behind. Ah!

I tend to be extremely, extremely picky about where my focus hits, and often find myself obsessing over getting my camera to focus exactly where my face is. My poor husband, who is himself an excellent photographer, often gets a lecture from me if he uses my dress as a focus point instead of my eyes (because sometimes, that means the dress is in sharp focus and my face is in soft focus) and the more I take my own photos the more I challenge myself with photography!

This session wasn’t as creative as some, but I’ve been wanting to shoot on this bridge for months and it finally felt right to try it out.

There’s something a bit fairytale in feel about this little bridge. The way it’s surrounded by trees covered in thorns, all bare and threatening in the wintery weather. The way the leaves cling to the boards, stubborn remnants of last year’s autumn. The trickle of the creek below, which is really nothing more than a mucky marsh at this time of year. The bounce of the bridge as you walk over it, swaying as if to dance with your every step.

I was a literal rose among the thorns, and if that’s not a fairytale, I don’t know what is!

And now, having gotten my yellow fix for the day, I am cozy inside because it’s really not actually warm enough to wear short sleeves just yet. While I’ve been enjoying the snow that has been suddenly bombarding us on random days, I am also looking forward to warmer weather. I can’t wait until it’s possible to go outside and not have on two or three layers!

What are you looking forward to this spring?